Businessmen discuss investment in China

Citing Hong Kong as a gateway, three business professionals discussed investment in China at a program last night. "A recent [International Monetary Fund] report has indicated that China, by the year 2020, will have the largest economy in the world," said Louis Ho, director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Ho's speech concentrated on the relationship between Hong Kong and Guandong, China's most prosperous province. "Hong Kong is literally China's southern gateway to Guandong," he said. Ho also noted that Hong Kong is the engine behind the south Asian economy and "can open doors to American companies." Eduardo Abello, principle investment officer of the International Finance Corporation, spoke about the instruments of investment. Because the IFC's charter only permits investment in private companies, Abello explained the criteria for investment in a Chinese company. Abello said his company only invests in Chinese companies of which the government owns less than half or whose ownership the government has committed to reducing. Abello also said that the majority of joint ventures in China are with sponsors from Hong Kong. K.K. Yeung, chairperson of K.K. Yeung Management Consultants Ltd., spoke about business regulations and methods of making a profit in China. "China has a huge market, cheap labor and a stable political climate," he said. "The problem in China is the lack of management expertise in implementing things properly," he continued. Kevin Chang, president of the Wharton Asian Association, which cosponsored the event with the Hong Kong Club, said he thought the lecture was "productive." "We had three speakers come to talk about investment in China, which is the highlight of the current global economy," said Chang, a Wharton sophomore. "Each speaker was a specialist in a different field, so the combination gave the best overview of the investment in China and Hong Kong," he added.